A city-wide power outage lasting over six hours brought proceedings at the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court to a standstill today, leaving many attendees frustrated as their cases were postponed.
The outage, attributed by the Sol Plaatje Municipality to an explosion at a local power substation, left the courthouse without electricity—and without a working backup generator. Court officials had no contingency plan, forcing delays in multiple cases, including that of a foreign national accused of killing three people in a fatal crash last year while allegedly being in the country illegally.
“Left in the Dark”
With no power and no clear communication from court staff, those awaiting hearings expressed anger and confusion.
“They are not saying anything to us. We’ve been standing here for a long time and don’t know what will be happening,” said one frustrated attendee. “We feel very bad that the magistrate’s court doesn’t even have a proper generator to continue our cases. Look around—taverns and other buildings have generators, but not this big place.”
Among those most affected were the grieving families of two who were killed in a collision allegedly caused by a Zimbabwean. He is also accused of hitting and killing a young cricketer in a separate incident before crashing into the minibus taxi carrying the victims.
“Justice System Failing Us”
The father of one victim condemned the repeated delays in the case, saying the justice system continues to fail his daughter.
“She was a woman who stood up for her rights, and now, even in death, her rights are being violated,” he said. “We can’t just stand by and watch. This is unacceptable. No one tells us anything—we only hear later that the perpetrator was in court, but we weren’t there to see it ourselves.”
Municipality Vows Repairs
The Sol Plaatje Municipality stated that the damaged substation would be repaired over the weekend, with temporary measures already in place to restore power across Kimberley.
“The explosion was linked to a faulty circuit breaker connected to a voltage transformer,” a municipal spokesperson said. “Repairs will be completed soon.”
Meanwhile, the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court confirmed that its generator was non-functional due to a faulty battery, leaving no backup during the outage. No new date has yet been set for the postponed cases, leaving many in limbo as they await resolution.
For now, residents and affected families are left hoping that both the city’s power infrastructure and the court’s emergency systems will be fixed—so that justice, at last, can proceed without further interruption.
